10 killed, 14 injured in fire at a luxury hotel in China

Firefighters are seen at the site after a fire broke out at HNA Hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, February 25, 2017. Photo Courtesy:- (Twitter/@Xuzhiqin16)

At least 10 people were killed and 14 others injured in a major fire that broke out on Saturday morning at the four-storey HNA Platinum Mix Hotel in Nanchang, the capital of China’s eastern Jiangxi Province, the official Xinhua news agency said in a post on its official microblog on Saturday.

According to the reports published by Chinese media, the fire was first spotted around 8 am on the second floor of the four-storey HNA Platinum Mix Hotel building which also connects to a 24-storey apartment, where more than 260 residents have been evacuated in the Honggutan New District. In the latest update, about 10 fire tender were rushed at the fire scene and they took nearly two hours to extinguish the fire.

Firefighters try to put out a fire at HNA Hotel in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, February 25, 2017. Photo Courtesy:-(REUTERS/Stringer)

The rescue officials are searching for people trapped in the building. Firefighters found seven bodies in the blaze debris, and three of the 16 people hospitalised have died despite receiving medical attention following the fire, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Several others people are still believed to be trapped inside the hotel, including construction workers who were working on a decoration project on the building, firefighters said.

Video footage and photos of the blaze circulating on Chinese social media shows a thick, dark plumes of smoke coming from several floors of the HNA Platinum Mix Hotel building and dozens of fire trucks and rescue workers on the spot. Xinhua said one man had been injured broking the window to jump from the second floor to escape and then he had been taken to a nearby hospital. Seven people are in police custody while investigations into the cause of the fire continue, said Xinhua, adding that initial probes suggested the cause of the fire was tools used to cut construction materials.